From admiration to Alaska: A timeline of Trump and Putin's high-stakes encounters

Here is a history of Trump's high-stakes interactions with Putin while being President of the United States: 

Mutual admiration was publicly brewing between Putin and Trump in late 2015 when Trump was running for his first term in office. 

Trump later told supporters at a rally in Ohio that "It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond." 

Trump and Putin held their first in-person meeting on July 7, 2017, at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. 

Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump and Putin "connected very quickly" and had "positive chemistry." 

Trump and Putin were captured on camera shaking hands months later during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam on Nov. 10, 2017. 

Trump and Putin met again formally on July 16, 2018, at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. 

He also said Trump informed him that his posture is "Crimea is part of Ukraine." 

"I think they'd like to do trade with the United States. And they have great product. They have great land. They have very rich land. And a lot of oil, a lot of minerals, and the kind of things that we like," Trump said at the time. "And I can see trade going out with Russia. We could do fantastically well. We do very little trade with Russia, which is ridiculous, frankly. So I could see some very positive things happening." 

Trump, who was seated next to Putin, was asked by a reporter if he would tell "the Russian president to not meddle in the election." Trump, without looking at Putin, responded, "Of course I will. Don't meddle in the election, president. Don't meddle in the election." 

Trump and Putin held numerous phone calls this year in the lead-up to Friday's meeting in Alaska. 

Trump said after his call in May that "Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War." 

Trump and Putin are meeting Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, for the first time in years. 

Trump has described the talks as a "feel-out meeting," and has made clear that his top priority will be to determine whether a ceasefire in Ukraine is possible. Trump predicted earlier this week that he would be able to make that determination within the first "two minutes." 

Fox News' Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.